Long story short, I thought I had completed the titling process for the Primavera last May. Got a letter from the State of MN last weekend that said I had to post $(a lot) bond, which will be held for 3-count-em-3 years, before the scooter is officially titled.

I searched for "Surety bonds" in dexonline and found a listing for Associated Bonding. E-mailed asking for particulars, and received a response that it would cost $(a lot less) as a one-time fee, and telling me what information I would have to provide.

Has anyone here ever used a surety bond agency for titling? I am planning to try and meet with these people before I go ahead with anything and find out if there's a catch in there somewhere. I'm just wondering if there's someone out there who's done this (scooters, cars, whatever), who might have some friendly advice for me. Thanks.

If it's like when you post a bond to get out of jail you put a 10% down and the bondsman promises to cover the full amount if you do not live up to your end of the bargain i.e. show up for your court date.

If the fee is not exorbitant it shouldn't be that big of a deal, as long as you live up to your end of the bargain of course...

FYI you are the first person I have ever heard of who has had to do this here in MN. That's what you get for trying to follow the rules I guess. The funny thing is that at a different office, or with a different clerk, or on a different day they probably would have stamped that paperwork and you would have paid your fee and that would have been the end of it. Instead you get bureaucratic hell.

Well, it's probably my own fault. I was getting impatient because it had been so long since I registered (3 months, and the clerk I talked to at the beginning of May said 4-6 weeks... even with the brief shutdown, it seemed to be dragging out a long time). So I contacted the DMV to see what the holdup was... and a week later I got the notice from them. I should have just kept my mouth shut. *#$&!

Let this be a lesson to you all!

The fee is minimal (flat $150 for bonds under $6000... the state wants $1800). I will get more info from them (like, what _is_ my end of the bargain, besides not stealing the scooter?) and see how it goes.

If it works like a jail bond, you pay a fee and pledge collateral, maybe on a scooter a credit card number? On a jail bond it's more like the title to your car or your home). Of course you'd never "skip" on something like this, you'd just give up the scooter : )

Goldberg is the most reliable bail bondsman in town, but I don't know if they do this sort of thing.

Now that the amazingly knowledgeable and helpful St Paul DMV is closed does anyone have a GOOD branch to recommend?

For those of you that missed that lucky window in time (that gained me so many titles), the SP World Trade Center office was the MOTHER SHIP. Last year they mysteriously closed.
1) They could figure out what to do given any extenuating circumstance
2) If you forgot your engine # (on a newer bike) they could LOOK IT UP!
3) They were NICE!
4) They were actually FAST-No wandering off to the "back room"
5) You would get your title in 3-4 days!
6) You asked for a "moped" plate, you could get it.

The City of Wayzata has a title shop. I have always had success there. They are as freindly as can be. No hassles.

Really? I went there first and they were not very helpful and rather, um, poopy about the whole thing. On my second trip, I went to the Ridgedale service center, and while they didn't seem to know what they were doing, they were very pleasant and helpful and quick.

Wow! I don't know if I should start calling you Sid, Johnny, Or Ice-T!

I'll chip in and say that bonding really is the way the law says that most of these title-less vehicles should be going. That's not the fault of the desk worker. I'll even go so far as to say that most of the "found it in my grandpas barn and lost the title" stories shouldn't work, and the fact that they do is really only preying on the ignorance of whatever clerk you (are lucky enough) to be dealing with. Those clerks are the ones that end up making the process so confusing. And I can understand the purpose of bonding- if I find out my scooter is stolen, I can go the the DMV, report it missing- and hey, here's a pile of money that's rightfully mine.

Sure, somebody that's going to steal your scoot probably isn't going to title your bike anyways. So they ride it until the plates expire and then they get pulled over, bike is impounded, and your stolen vehicle report gets it back.

Ok, so the thief doesn't bother to wait that long, and sells it to you, the innocent man, for $2,000. Caveat Emptor really applies any time you're buying a title-less vehicle. This whole titling process is what stops us all from devolving into pure anarchy and stealing any vehicle we see sitting around anyways.